What happens when everything falls apart—and God seems silent?

In this Men's Roundtable Series Spotlight, Mista Yu sits down with Matthew Jenkins, cancer survivor, author of Beat Up By God: Finding Faith When Life Feels Like It's Falling Apart, and a man whose journey through suffering fundamentally changed the way he understands faith, hope, and resilience.

Matthew's story includes surviving cancer, living through chronic health challenges, experiencing repeated career setbacks, navigating the breakdown of his marriage, and confronting profound emotional pain.

Eventually, he reached a point where he felt completely overwhelmed and began questioning whether he could continue.

That experience became a turning point.

Not because all of his questions suddenly had answers—but because Matthew began learning that faith doesn't require pretending you aren't hurting.

In this conversation, we explore:

• What happens when faith collides with suffering
• Why God can feel silent during our darkest seasons
• The relationship between faith and mental health
• Men's tendency to suffer privately
• Grief, disappointment, and unanswered prayers
• Cancer survivorship and living through prolonged adversity
• The difficult questions believers sometimes feel afraid to ask
• Whether anger and disappointment can coexist with faith
• Finding purpose without romanticizing suffering
• Resilience after reaching rock bottom
• How we recognize when someone is struggling
• Why asking for help is an act of strength
• Rebuilding hope when circumstances haven't changed
• What it means to believe that your story isn't over

Matthew doesn't present himself as a pastor, counselor, or theologian with all the answers.

He's speaking as someone who has lived through the questions.

And that may be what makes this conversation particularly important.

Because there are people sitting in churches, homes, workplaces, and families right now who are hurting quietly.

They're praying.

They're questioning.

They're exhausted.

And they may believe that struggling with their faith means they've failed.

This conversation offers a different perspective:

Your questions don't make you faithless. Your suffering doesn't make you forgotten. And the darkest chapter of your life doesn't necessarily get to write the ending.

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